Danube Bend -The Wining Quartette: Branding, Cooperation, Quality and Living History: Best Practice Example


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( Dunakanyari Nyari Jatekok - Summer Festival in the Danube Bend)

a. Describe the local economy & situation i.e. the internal and external context The Dunakanyar-Pilis Municipality or as it is called by the public on its nick name, the Szentendrei Small Region lies in the North part of the middle of Hungary on 326,58 km2. In the small region there are about 75 000 people living in 13 settlements. These 13 settlements (most of them are cities) are the following ones:Budakalasz Csobanka, Dunabogdany, Kisoroszi Leanyfalu Piliszsentkereszt, Pilisszentlaszlo, Pocsmegyer,Pomaz, Szentendre, Szigetmonostor, Tahitótfalu, Visegrad.

The szentendrei small region is one of the most developed regions in our country, Hungary. To show you what it means practically we give here 3 data on the structure of the local economy. These data talks about employment. It says the rate of people employed in agriculture compared to the total number of “working people” in the small region is 2 %. The same rate in industry is 25%. And the rest of the people (73%) are working in different services.

An other important fact about local economy from the creative industries point of view is that there is an industrial park in our small region called EMI Szentendre Industrial Park. In this park there are many research companies functioning. They work for example in the field of engineering (such as elevator development, and frame building) and quality control. To understand the economic endowments of szenetendrei small region is is the best if we have a look at on all the factors that influence our economy and everyday life. These are the followings:

The River Danube as a rout

The River Danube as potential of the practice and development of sport tourism

Rich cultural heritage (both of the Hungarians and of the minorities living here)

Good natural capabilities (Many parts of the small region are Nutura 2000 sites)

Closeness of Budapest, the capital of Hungary

Well educated people (A data from 2001 shows it well. In 2001 the average of completed school grades of people living in the small region was 10,28)

Many museums, exhibition halls and galleries

These data show that the Dunkanyar-Pilis Municipality is an ideal place for the development of creative industries because people of applied science and both performing and fine arts can find possibilities to make out.

b. What is the nature of the intervention?

It is hard to define the nature of our intervention. It is partly a tourism management initiation and also an event quality increasing initiation and partly an effort to strengthen local identity. If you have a look at this project at glance you can see nothing special. We have organized a Summer Festival in the Danube Bend that was made to be a new brand in the event market in Hungary - and that is all. But if you have a look at the little talking details and if you become aware of the problems we realized, the challenges we had to face and the solutions we worked out you will surly say that is was not only a successful project but also a unique combination of 4 elements: branding, cooperation, quality and living history.

So here you can find our short description on the problems, challenges and the solution.

The problem we realized in 2007

In our micro region there were summer cultural events in almost every city. Although the programs of these festivals were quite interesting and many people of the cities were involved in them the events did not attract as many visitors as they could have. At the same time the local authorities made big efforts to maintain these program which were somehow traditions (you know if you organize an event for the third time it is tradition) and t'''hey still not have the financial sources to market these events on the tourism market. An other problem was that not every production on stage was as valuable as it should have been.'''

So the problems were:

Events could not attract as many visitors as they should have

A lock of capital to market events on the tourism market

Not every production put on stage was as valuable as it should have been.

The challenges

In 2006 the management of szentnedrei small region discovered a few weaknesses of the small region. Out of all of the weaknesses from our point of you the following is worth to be mentioned. '''The so called “I belong to the Danube Bend” identity hardly existed. At the same time it is very well known in Hungary that the ability to cooperate is usually also very under developed. Out of the many strength that the management discovered it examined the region were(among others): rich cultural heritage and good natural capabilities.'''

So the challenges were

To increase the Danube Band identity and to develop the ability of cooperation in our small region among people working in the creative and cultural industries.

The solution we worked out in 2008

First we (I mean the management of the small region) had to define the task as precisely as it was only possible. It was necessary because it is difficult to make a goal like “ '''To increase the Danube Band identity”. ''' To getting closer to our objectives first we had to think over what is the first thing Hungarian people think of when someone mentions the cultural heritage in Szentendre, Visegrad, Budakalsz, Csobanka and so on. We were talking about the topic in meetings for a few weeks. Finally the management came to the conclusion that the best known fact about the Danube Bend is that our great king, King Matyas (1458-1490) who lived in the time of the Renaissance put the royal residence to Visegrad. He had many valuable buildings built in the region. At the same time King Matyas is a very well known figure in Hungarian folk art. There are many tales about him. He is regarded to be Matyas the righteous. He was also very clever and wise. He was successful in all fields of governance: in economy in national defense and in the development of trade. So the management decided to built a project on the “image of King Matyas”. It seemed to be a good way to improve local identity.

But there was the other part of the problem we had to cope with. As we mentioned earlier we wanted to run a project which would improve the quality of summer events in each settlement of szentnedrei small region.

And of course there was the task to gain more financial support from the national sources than in the previous years.

As you can think these to tasks (improve the quality of the events and gain more financial support from the national sources) are in contiguity. If you want to put on stage more and more valuable productions if you want to invite more and more prestigious groups you have to pay more and more.

Fortunately there was a tendency in the Hungarian tourism development policy to rather support regional cultural touristic programs than local events. In other words cultural cooperation in small regions was a national priority in tourism policy.

So the management of our small region thought we could best profit from the national intentions if we put together a cultural festival in which all settlements were involved. We decided to make a marketing action serving the festival and to build out a new “trade mark” for the summer festival in our micro region.

So the elements of the plan of the solution were:

A new event brand (Dunakanyari Nyari Jatekok)

A strong marketing campaign coo financed by the Hungarian government

The new brand should be built on the good image of King Matyas

To force the people working in the local authorities of the settlements to cooperate with one other more effectively

To improve the quality of performances

By working hard and after long negotiations we could manage to bring our plans into effect. There were valuable productions on stage in all 13 settlements in our small region in June, July and Agust.

There were many programs that had got connection with the cultural heritage of King Matyas. And we could find the way to put the productions of the local civil amateur groups too.

c. What is the effect of the intervention?

It is very difficult to measure such a phenomenon as the growth of identity and the improvement of effectiveness of cooperation. However we can say that in 2009 people of our small region asked the local authorities about their plans on the “Dunakanyari Nyari Jatekok” that shows that sooner or later this festival will become a tradition. Can you make more in cultural life than establish a tradition?

d. What advice would you give others?

Base your cultural activities on strong national historical heritages

Be aware that quality costs more but it is worth to buy

People want to belong to social subgroups and it can be a small region too

Cost effective solutions are the base of cooperation